AVA stops sale of brand of Taiwan bubble tea pearls
The Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) has stopped the sale of a brand of tapioca balls commonly used to make Taiwan bubble tea in Singapore.
In a Facebook post on Monday, the AVA said it had informed the local importers of Sunright brand tapioca balls -- commonly known as "pearls" -- to withdraw them from sale.
Consumers who have purchased the affected product should either return it to the retailer or discard the product.
This follows an alert by the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that it had detected maleic acid, an unapproved food additive, in some food products manufactured in Taiwan.
According to the AVA, the affected products include fish paste products (oden), flat rice noodles, taro (yam) balls and tapioca balls.
“Of the affected products, only Sunright brand tapioca balls is imported (into Singapore),” AVA said in its press release on 17 May.
As a precautionary measure, AVA also said it's conducting surveillance of other similar food products from Taiwan to ensure that they do not contain maleic acid.
Occasional consumption of maleic acid does not pose any significant health risk but long-term consumption of high levels of maleic acid can cause kidney damage.
